Apparatus for cleaning internal surfaces of hollow castings



March 9 1950 K. w. KLINKSIEK 2,501,129

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING INTERNAL SURFACES OF HOLLOW CASTINGS Filed Aug. 20, 1948 INVENTORI AKE z agw @M W HIS ATTORN EYS.

Patented Mar. 21, 1950 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING INTERNAL SURFACES OF HOLLOW CASTHNGS Karl 'W. Kliriksiek, Richmond Heights, 'MO., as-

:signor to Wagner Electric Corporation,

St. Louis, Me, a corporation oi Delaware Application August 20, 1948, SerialNo. 45,358

7 Claims.

This invention is concerned with an apparatus which will clean the interior surfaces-of hollow .metal pierced castings or the cavities in various *hollow bodies in which the cleaning material is moved about inthc hollow casting or body.

The invention consistsof a supporting 'member on which a hollow casting or other hollow body is received that contains a quantity of abrasive material such as shot. The supporting member is caused to move througha predetermined path while it is held in the'same relative vertical or horizontal position so that the shot or abrasive will move through the predetermined path to thereby clean and work the interior surfaces of the casting or hollow body.

One of the objects of this invention isto-provide an apparatus that'will uniformly clean and work the inner surfaces of pierced hollow castings or other hollow bodies.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which will remove projections from and otherwise clean the inner corners of castings or hollow bodies.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cleaning method applicable to small castings which is capable'of reproducing the resultsobtained so thata pair or multiplicity of such castings or hollow bodies may be uniformly cleaned.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a top planviewoi an apparatus embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a left side 'elevational view of the apparatus with all parts on the rear of the machine omitted; and

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the forces acting on the shot utilized'in theapparatus.

A machine embodying this invention consists ofa frame member l provided with a plurality of bearings the bearings being arranged in pairs and axially aligned and preferably disposed on. uprights formed on the ends of the frame members i, as viewed in Fig. 2. Shafts 3 arerotatably mounted in each pair of aligned bearings and each is provided with a counter-balanced crank t secured to the outer ends of each of the shafts.

Each crank is provided with a pin 5 and the pins oneach sideof the machine are connected by bars The bars "ivare displaced"9il from each other so that-one of them'will -always be positioned 96 .fromdeadcenter should the other he in either of the two dead center positions. One of the shafts 3 has'apulley l securedthereto which is driven from r asuita'ble prime vmover,

such as an electric motor 8 on whose armature shaft a pulley 9 is secured. The two pulleys are 2 connected'by suitable power transmittingmeans, such as a belt'lil,=in orderthat theishafts 3' may be rotated. 7

Each 'ofthe bars "6 is provided with work piece clamping members N that is -supported thereon by a clamping screw ['2. Each barli also'hasa pair of work piece receiving'cavities i3 out therein in which hollow bodies l4,-eac"hcontaining a quantity of shot [5, are'supported. Each ofthe clamping members 'll acts as a closure "for the hollow bodies i l although auxiliary "covers ll (Fig. 2) may be'placed Over-the hollowbodies and under the clamping members inthe event the cavities are of such'size'asnot to'be covered 5 by the clamping members I I.

a rotary path and in a vertical plane.

"The operation of the apparatus isbegunby placing a hollow piercedcasting, or other hollow body, partially filledwith 'shot'in "each of the work piece receiving cavities [3. The size and hardness of the shot is chosen in accordance with the size and nature of the'casting or hollow body to be cleaned and'thefinishto be produced on the interiorsuxfacethereof. "The motor 8 is now started, which will'rotateshafts 3 'thereby rotating every pointon each of the bars 6 through The crankpins 5 are 'made to "define circular paths while a pair of lines'drawnthrou'gh the longitudinal axes of'bars B-remain parallel to the line through the centers of bearings l Any point on bars 5 which remains horizontal, will move throueh the circular path described, hence any particle constrained to a volume or space in a hol ow body mount d on one of bars 6, will be subjected to a centrifugal force proportional both to "the rnass of the particle and to the velocity of rotat on.

Attention is now directed to'Fig. 3 which discloses a diagramof forces on a single piece "of shot I6 at thevarious positions of rotational movement of the'hollowbody f4. At position t an individual shot it placed inthe' hollow body as .it is rotated'issubject to several forces. The'centrifugal force C at position i is substantially vertical, thereby holding the shot against thebottom of the inner surface of the hollow body [4, and inertial force (not shown), due to the mass of shot-operates at right anglesto the centrifugal force serving to hold the shot against the left .inner surface. As the hollow body'l l moves'toward position 3,the centrifugal force operates in two components Cv, which'holds the shot against the bottom inner sur'faceyan'd Ch which is perpendicularto Cv 'andin .a direction opposite to the inertial force. Ch'increases "as -'the hollow body moves to position 3 where it becomes equal to C, while Cv decreases simultaneously from value at position I to zero at position 3. The shot I6 does not move away from the left inner corner until Ch becomes equal to and greater than the inertial force in the opposite direction. Actually Ch must be appreciably greater than the inertial force because added to the inertial force is a frictional force (not shown) which must also be overcome. This frictional force, a function of Cv, is exerted between the opposing surfaces of the shot and the wall of the casting or hollow body.

At some position, such as 2, intermediate positions I and 3, Ch will become equal to the sum of the inertial and frictional forces. At position 2 the shot will begin to move along the lower inner surface under the action of Ch, it being held against that surface by Cv. This action performs a scrubbing or cleaning of the interior surface of the hollow body l4. At position 3, Cv vanishes and Ch will equal C. The result of this increase in Ch is to drive the shot forcibly into the right lower corner of the hollow body, removing the projections therefrom and producing a peening effect on the surface contacted by the shot that is angularly disposed with respect to the s rface over which l6 traveled. Similar force diagrams are shown in Fig. 3 for the forces Cv and C11 in the other quadrants of the circular path.

The casting to be cleaned is filled approximately one-third full of shot in order to produce the most satisfactory cleaning and peening results. The use of a multiplicity of shot produces a highly useful and desirable effect. In moving from position i to 3 the shot pellets are all directed toward the lower right hand corner of the hollow body by the action of centrifugal force C. There is a spreading effect of the shot because their paths interfere with each other. This piles up the shot in the corner and effectively cleans the surface parallel to the path of movement of the particles and peens those perpendicular thereto, producing on the inner surfaces of the casting or hollow body a uniform action of cleaning and peening so that all work pieces subjected to this treatment will have their inner surfaces uniformly treated or worked.

The machine is operated for a predetermined length oftime after which the bodies I 4 are removed and replaced by untreated or unworked bodies.

What I claim is:

1. An apparatus for cleaning the interior of a hollow body by means of loose abrasive particles contained therein. said apparatus comprising a support for said body, means for rigidly securing said body to said support, and means for imparting acomplete circular motion to said support while maintaining the same in parallel planes in all positions of said circular motion.

2. An apparatus for operating on the interior surface of a hollow body comprising a pair of spaced apart parallel shafts; cranks of equal length secured to the ends of said shafts; parallel bars of equal length connecting the cranks on the ends of said shafts; means for rotating said shafts to thereby cause a point on the bars to move through a circular path; means to support a hollow body on one of said bars; and a quantity of shot in said hollow body that is caused to move through a constrained path as said bars are moved through their circular path in order that the shot may operate upon the interior surface of the hollow body.

3. An apparatus for cleaning the interior surfaces of a hollow body with shot comprising means for horizontally disposing a bar for supporting a hollow body; means for supporting said hollow body containing shot on said bar; and means for moving said bar such that a point thereon moves through a rotary path while maintaining said bar horizontally disposed so that the shot in said body contacts all portions of the interior surfaces of said hollow body.

4. An apparatus for cleaning and peening the interior of a hollow body with shot comprising a pair of shafts having cranks thereon; means in which said shafts are rotatably supported; a bar connecting the cranks on each shaft and maintained in a horizontal plane; means on said bar for supporting the hollow body into which a quantity of shot has been introduced; means for rotating said crank shafts to move a point on said bar through a rotary path in a vertical plane while maintaining the bar horizontal to enable the shot to clean and peen the interior surface of said hollow body.

5. An apparatus for cleaning and peening the interior surface of a hollow body in which a quantity of shot has been introduced comprising a crank shaft; a second crank shaft; bars connecting the cranks on said shafts so that each bar is held in a horizontal plane; means for clamping said hollow body to said bar and for maintaining the shot therein; means to rotate said shafts so that points on said bars will be moved through a rotary path in a vertical plane while maintaining said bars, horizontal so that said shot will clean and peen the interior surfaces of said body.

6. An apparatus for moving a hollow body in a circular path comprising means for rotatably supporting a pair of shafts; cranks mounted on the ends of each shaft; a bar connected between the cranks mounted on ends of the shafts; means for supporting the hollow body on one of said bars; and means for rotating said shafts so that a point on each bar is moved through a circular path while being constantly held horizontal.

7. An apparatus for moving a hollow body in a circular path comprising means for rotatably supporting a pair of shafts; cranks mounted on the ends of each shaft, the crank on one end of each shaft being displaced from the crank on the other end of the shaft; bars connected between the cranks mounted on the ends of the shafts; means for supporting a plurality of hollow bodies on one of said bars; and a prime mover for rotating said shafts so that a point on each bar is moved through a circular path while the bar is being constantly held horizontal.

KARL W. KLINKSIEK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 578,969 Coates Mar. 16, 189'. 789,710 Blechschmidt May 16, 1905 2,387,095 Shideler Oct. 16, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 40,805 Switzerland Aug. 20, 1907 

